


New Incoming Message

by dr_jillianholtzmann



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Humor, I hope you'll all like it :) I think it definitely makes it a bit more fun, I mean I got a little lost with holtz and her terrible comments, I promise, I thought I'd try something different for once, Online Dating, Texting, a bit of angst, and i love them, because every story needs some, but who am i, dating app, man, slowburn, there is a lot of photoshop shit going on, they are all such nerds, this might be a bit of a crack fic from time to time, who can blame me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-18 14:59:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10619352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dr_jillianholtzmann/pseuds/dr_jillianholtzmann
Summary: If Erin Gilbert had to create a list of things she's not good at, ‘dating’ would probably be number 2 on that list. Right underneath ‘not getting slimed on a bust’.So maybe there isn’t a solution to the slime thing, who cares? (okay, she actually really cares because that stuff is gross and hardens her clothing and hair and one time she actually broke, literally broke her underwear in half while pulling it off.. which was just great)However, according to Abby, there is something that can be done about the whole ‘dating’ issue…Or, the one where Erin joins a dating app.Or, the one where Holtz makes a big mistake, a really, really big mistake.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys!!
> 
> I know I have other stuff going on, but this is just going to be a relatively short story that I wanted to post. I have most stuff finished for it already, so hopefully updates will be quicker than Dates in Central Park.. but we'll see. Anyways, I'd love to hear what you think about this one. The first chapter isn't that great, but it's mostly just an introduction. 
> 
> Hope you like it! 
> 
> xx E
> 
> Sorry for the mistakes, btw.

Try it. That’s what Abby told her. Just freaking _try_ it. You’ll regret it if you don’t.

Would she though?

There are still other ways.

“Abby. It just seems so.. desperate. I can always-“

“You can always what? Go out? Bump into someone on the street and then your fingers brush as you pick up the notebook you dropped and then you both look up into each other’s eyes and suddenly the world around you disappears? The streets of New York are empty, and it’s just the two of you and then he smiles at you _just_ right and both of you _know_ and you live happily ever after.”

Erin stared at her. “Well.. maybe not exactly like that.”

“Maybe, but Erin, no offense, when do you ever go out?”

“We go out for drinks every Friday!” She argued, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Yeah, we do. But we just sit in our booth and talk about ghosts and Patty’s new boyfriend and Holtz’s new gun and on how you’re just so annoyed about how she always blows up your stuff.”

“She does.”

“Yeah, and there’s a reason why that doesn’t have anything to do with your desk being a better place to practice than ours."

“What?”

“Never mind.”

They glared at each other, and Abby had that look on her face that said ‘you don’t want to mess with me right now’. A look Erin had known for a long time, although it wasn’t usually directed towards her (lately, at least).

“Abby. Please. I don’t even know where to start.”

Somehow, that made the researcher smile.

“That’s alright. I already made you an account and everything.”

“You did what?”

Abby turned the laptop around so that it was facing her.

“Oh my god. Abby.” Erin said, noticing the profile the other woman had written.

“What? I mean, it’s accurate isn’t it?”

“Uh… I think people are mostly going to think I’m a sixty-year-old librarian or something.”

“Not if you add a picture. Although, not one of those old ones from Columbia, because that would just make it worse.”

“Hey!” Erin said, nudging her friend’s shoulder. “Not fair.”

“Sorry. I just wasn’t sure if you wanted to add the whole ‘Ghostbusters’ thing.”

Erin smiled at that. “That’s sweet. I’ll uh- I’ll probably just put that I’m a physicist. Maybe I’ll add it later. I don’t know how many freaks are on here.”

“Erin.” Abby deadpanned. “This is a dating website. Of course there’s going to be freaks on this. Although, from what I’ve heard, it’s mostly just a bunch of nerds obsessing over science and stuff on this one so you’ll be fine.”

“Wait what it’s called?” Erin asked, suddenly curious.

“Sedox.” Abby simply answered, causing the other woman to frown. “Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin. You know, love.”

“Oh my god.” Erin responded, shaking her head. “That’s horrible and not even scientifically accurate. There is way more involved than just those neurotransmitters and hormones. What about Adrenaline and Vasopressin and-“

“Jesus Erin. I think they just wanted a funny name.”

“Sorry. I just don’t know whether to thank you or punch you.”

“Well, just wait a week and tell me then.”

Erin was about to say something else when the door of the firehouse was pulled open and Patty and Holtz walked in, seeming to be in a discussion about where you can get the best donuts in town. The physicist stared at them for a bit, then realized the laptop was still open and quickly slammed it shut.

“You guys looking at half naked pictures of Kevin or something?” Patty asked, quickly making her way over towards where Abby and Erin were standing.

“Because if you are, I want in.” Patty continued, causing Abby to burst out into laughter.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but we’re not.”

Holtzmann hadn’t said anything yet, just continued to stare at Erin with a questioning look on her face, clearly knowing something was going on. She walked closer, leaning on the kitchen counter and letting her shoulder’s brush Erin’s.

“You okay hot stuff?”

Erin nodded, although she didn’t dare to turn her head towards the other woman. “Great. Yep. Perfect. Sooo good.”

Holtzmann chuckled. “Yeah, okay. You guys are up to something, clearly.” She leaned even closer, ducking her head down so she could catch Erin’s gaze and wink at her.

“Holtzy!” Patty said. “Leave the poor girl alone.”

“Sorrrry.” She responded, widening her eyes briefly at Erin before turning on her heels and walking away from her friends.

Patty shook her head, watching how their engineer ran up the stairs towards her lab. “Still can’t believe we actually gave her the entire second floor.”

“It was for our own safety really.” Abby said, which was true. They had tried to evenly divide space in the beginning, but after a while, they were pretty much done with seeing their research go up in flames whenever the blonde was tinkering with something. Erin still went up there from time to time. For research purposes only, she claimed; to get some help with her equations. Abby wondered though, how effective could that help really could be when she’d end up with burn holes in her notebooks.

“Guess you’re right about that. Don’t want to see any more of my history books going up in flames or used as a shield.”

They all laughed at that.

* * *

“Abby. Seriously, I’m so close to giving up.” Erin said as she stormed into the firehouse two weeks later. The others were already there, drinking coffee together in the kitchen. For once, Erin didn’t care about them hearing and judging her, she was planning to give up anyways.

“What are you talking about?” The other woman asked, stepping forward when she noticed Erin swinging her phone around. She frowned then, not quite understanding yet what Erin was referring to.

“This stupid dating app!” Erin said, handing the phone to Abby. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed how both Patty and Holtz appeared to be in some kind of shock. “Get over it guys. I’m quitting anyway.”

Patty laughed. “Baby, why didn’t you tell me you were dating, I could have fixed you a blind date or something.”

Erin smiled softly. “Well, I’m not exactly dating. So far, only creepy guys have responded to my profile.”

Abby laughed as she scrolled through the conversations in the app. Most of them were indeed messages sent by weird dudes. Erin had ignored most, and the ones that she had responded to only lasted about a couple of sentences before the guys were asking her to come over and have sex with her. Holtz was leaning over Abby’s shoulder and laughing along as she pointed at some of the things men had said.

“This is gold, Gilbert.”

“Thank you.” Erin said sarcastically. “Obviously this is just what I was looking for.”

Abby suddenly frowned and stopped scrolling. “Uh. What’s this?” She turned the phone around and immediately Erin’s cheeks turned bright red. Shit. She had forgotten about that. How could she have forgotten about the girl she had randomly send a message to late one night when she had been a bit tipsy. She had laughed at the little biography part she’d written about herself and Erin thought to herself, why not? Well, because of this. Apparently.

“Nothing. It’s nothing. I didn’t- I don’t- Abby.” She stammered, trying to reach for her phone but failing now that both Holtz and Patty seemed to be interested as well.

“Let me see!” Holtzmann said, pulling the phone away from her two friends and turning it so Patty could see as well.

“Baby! I didn’t know you liked girls too. You should have told me!” Patty said, a wide smile on her face. Erin was still blushing, but had to admit it was nice of her to respond so positively right away. Her gaze fell onto Holtzmann then, who was still staring at the phone, her mouth wide open.

“Gilbert. I don’t even know what to say.” She finally said, looking up to make eye contact with Erin. She winked at her then, which made the situation so much worse for Erin, who ducked her head away.

“Guys. Please. I really just- I wasn’t- I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“Clearly.”

“Holtzy!”

“Come on. You can’t blame me for that one.”

Erin groaned as she finally pulled the phone away from Holtzmann’s hands and locked it. “Well, this might be the most embarrassed I’ve ever been.”

“Don’t forget about that time you flashed a dude during a bust because your overalls were still dirty and the slime hit you so hard your tweed blazer popped open.”

“Thanks, Abby. How could I forget?”

“I sure as hell can’t.” Holtzmann said, shooting another wink in Erin’s direction. “Ghost ectoprojected that tiny bowtie right off your body.”

“Jesus Christ.” Patty said with a shake of her head, although she couldn’t hide her smile. Holtzmann was laughing too, holding onto Patty’s arm for support.

“Okay. Okay.” Abby spoke, raising her hands to silence her friends while she wrapped her arm around Erin’s shoulders. “Let’s give Erin a break.” She turned towards her friend then, who was still looking pretty red. “Just.. give it another week. Please?”

Erin fell silent, not quite knowing what she wanted. She turned towards the other two, looking for more answers.

“I uh-“ Holtzmann said uncharacteristically soft, “I think you should just give it a try. I mean, you know we were just joking, right? I- I mean, we, truly want you to be happy. Maybe this is the way, maybe it isn’t. You should at least give it a fair chance. You are a scientist after all.”

Erin chuckled. “I guess you’re right about that.”

“Yeah, really. We support you.” Patty said, reaching out to pull Erin into her arms.

“Thanks, guys.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh god okay i'm trying something different here.. which you'll notice soon enough. just let me know if you like it or hate it because then I can decide if I'll continue doing this or not. :) 
> 
> Also thanks for all the kudos and comments on the first chapter!! <3
> 
> xx E
> 
> JESUS OMG I'M SO SORRY IF YOU GOT LIKE 1 BILLION EMAILS ABOUT ME UPLOADING FREAKING 30 CHAPTERS I'M SO SORRY I HONESTLY DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED BUT I THINK WE'RE FINE NOW. I'M SO SORRY.

A few days later, Erin still hadn’t had any success. She did have a few pleasant conversations with some men, but usually after a few days one of them just stopped talking to the other, or it just felt weirdly forced like they were trying too hard but just didn’t have anything interesting to say to each other. She didn’t check the app too often, usually only at the end of a day or in the morning. She didn’t like to be distracted during her work. Today was different though.

It was a slow day, slower than the slowest of days she’d seen in a while. They didn’t have anything to do. The whole place was clean (thanks to Abby) and all of their equipment was working perfectly. She also didn’t have any reports to fill in for the mayor because she’d finished all of them last week (including Holtzmann’s, who refused to do her own).

She could, of course, start working on some new equations, but she would need to talk to their engineer first to see what she had in mind. They often worked together when building new equipment. They liked to bounce ideas off of each other; see what they could come up with. Erin would then theorize, write, work on the formula, while Holtz created, built, set the whole building on fire. It worked. Somehow.

However, the other woman had been awfully quiet the last couple of days, locked up in her lab working on something that she hadn’t shared with the rest of the group yet. It didn’t worry her or anything, because Holtz did this a lot, but she just wished that this time she would talk to her about it. She decided to check up on her. If she truly wanted to be alone she could always just send Erin away again.

She knocked on the door of the lab on the second floor. “Come in!” Someone yelled from the other side.

She carefully pushed the door open before entering. “Hey.” She said, sort of awkwardly.

“Good afternoon, Gilbert. What brings you to my humble abode?”

Erin chuckled before stepping forward. The blonde still hadn’t looked up from her work yet. “Uh, just checking what you were doing, I guess.”

Holtzmann smiled then, finally looking up to make eye contact with her. “You’re bored.”

“A bit.”

The engineer grinned. “Sit.”

Erin took a seat next to Holtzmann, suddenly realizing she had probably never sat this close to the other woman before. Their elbows brushed and she felt like a teenage girl again, getting all giddy about such a simple touch.

“You okay?” Holtzmann asked, as if she sensed that something was going on.

“Super. I’m awesome.” She responded, groaning as soon as the words left her mouth.

The blonde laughed. “Okay then. Here, take this.” She handed Erin a screwdriver, which she gladly took from her. At least she’d have something else to focus on. Holtzmann shifted an old toaster towards her. “I found this the other day and I think there are some parts in there that I can use. You wanna take it apart?”

Erin stared at the toaster with wide eyes. “Uh. I don’t even know where to start.” She said, turning the thing around to look for screws or other stuff she could loosen.

Holtzmann smiled at her, then gestured for her to put it upside down. “Take these screws out first, then you can use a saw or hammer to further destroy the outside part. I don’t need that. I’ll explain the rest when you’re done.”

“I feel like I’m in school again or something.” Erin said.

“Oh. Well. You don’t have to if you don’t-“

“Holtz. I meant that in a positive way. I like it when you teach me stuff.”

“Well, there’s a few more things I could-“ She started, already shooting Erin one of her signature winks.

“Don’t even.” The redhead said, holding up the screwdriver and pointing it at her.

“Okay, okay. I won’t, but just because I’ve never seen you with tools like that and you seem like the kind of person to slip off your chair and accidentally stab me.” Holtzmann responded, holding up her arms.

Erin laughed. “I want to get mad at you about that but honestly, you’re probably right.”

“Exactly. Now, as much fun as it is to have you sitting here, and trust me, it is, could ya maybe scoot a bit so that we can both work?”

“Sure.” Erin said, sad to leave the blonde’s side but glad that she at least has something to distract herself with.

They work in silence for a little while, just enjoying the other’s company until Erin is done with the first part and Holtz comes over to explain what needs to be done next and which parts she needs for her project. It’s pretty simple, she just needs to get all of the wires out of there first, and then she can take the inner part and use her screwdriver again to open that.

“So, you all good?” Holtzmann asked, stepping away again to sit on her chair.

“Yep. Thanks.” Erin responded, already focusing on her work again.

“I was uh, I was wondering-“ Holtz started, her voice sounding a bit higher and strained, “I was wondering how the dating thing was going.”

The physicist turned around in her seat and put the screwdriver down. She noticed that Holtzmann looked kind of awkward, but she wasn’t sure why. She was aware that certain conversations (mostly highly personal) made her uncomfortable, but the other day she’d seemed fine with teasing her about it.

“It’s good. I guess.” Erin responded, shrugging her shoulder to keep the conversation light.

“Anybody interesting?”

“Not really. I had a few guys that were pretty nice, but I mean, it was a little bit boring.”

“Right. How about that uh- that girl?”

Erin smiled. Okay, so that was what Holtzmann was feeling awkward about. The whole ‘girl’ thing.

“Yeah, she seemed nice. Still hasn’t responded though.”

“Her loss. I mean, you’re probably the cutest scientist on there.” Holtzmann said, smiling softly at her.

“Thanks. I guess.” Erin realized she was blushing. Holtzmann flirted with her all the time, but usually, it involved a wink or some sort of manic smile. It was almost never as sincere as it was in this moment, which was odd. Nice, but odd.

“Yeah, uh- no problem.”

They both continued working then.

* * *

 That night, Erin was sitting on her couch alone watching a movie. Her cat, Annie, was laying on her lap purring loudly and demanding her attention. She stroked her back, not even fully focusing on the movie anymore. Suddenly her phone buzzed, causing her to frown as she reached for it. She hadn’t realized she’d turned her app notifications on, but apparently, she had because her lovely dating app was informing her that she had a new message. Great.

She reached for her phone to check from who it was, then let out a small gasp when she noticed who it was from.

 

Wait.

Was that?

Oh god.

It’s _her._

Erin’s fingers hovered over her screen for a couple of seconds, staring at the notification. Should she open it? She was the who had sent the message in the first place, right? She might have been drunk while doing so but it would be rude to ignore her now. She could just tell the girl this was a mistake, right?

She clicked on their conversation, wincing at the message she’s sent her. 

  

Erin put her phone away, suddenly realizing she was smiling. How did the stranger manage to do that? It hadn’t even been a very interesting conversation or anything. Still, it was nice, in a way. Also, she had been the one to tell the other woman she wanted to continue their conversation, which had been a bit surprising at first but honestly, why shouldn’t she? The girl seemed nice, interesting, funny, and just someone she could definitely enjoy talking to.

She locked her phone and put it away, already excited to continue talking to the mysterious woman the next day. Maybe Abby’s idea hadn’t been so horrible after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? Yes or no?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys... thank you so, so, so much for all the feedback!! It means the world to me.. 
> 
> I've been crazy busy.. but luckily I did have time to write on paper. I just need to type it out. So that's positive at least. I'm gonna try to update faster from now on. I promise. 
> 
> Hope you like it! 
> 
> xx E
> 
> Oh and I didn't really proof read this because I'm an idiot and started working on this at midnight even though I had to get up early for work
> 
> oh and I made a grey's anatomy reference and I don't even care.

_**1 Week later** _

“Good morning.” Erin said as she walked into the firehouse, holding two cups of coffee. She normally arrived at precisely 8:15 every day, but today she just couldn’t get herself out of bed which was why it was currently almost 9 AM.

“Morning to you too baby. You doing okay? We expected you sooner.” Patty asked as she looked at her friend, noticing she had bags underneath her eyes and her hair was messier than normal.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I wasn’t feeling very well this morning.” The physicist responded with a shrug, realizing it probably wasn’t very convincing.

“Okay. Sure. Anything I can do?”

“No, it’s alright. Thank you. Is the rest upstairs?”

Patty nodded. “Yeah, well except for Kevin, I don’t know where the hell that dude is. Holtzy’s pitching some new ideas or something to Abby though.”

“And you didn’t want to be a part of that?”

“Nah, don’t really understand all that science shit anyways. I’ll just wait for the demonstration.”

Erin chuckled. “Okay then. Well, I’m going up there to check it out, if you don’t mind.”

Patty nodded and smiled, turning around again and focusing on the book lying in front of her.

“Hey, Erin!” Abby said cheerfully as the redhead walked into the lab, handing the cup of coffee over to Holtzmann before sitting down onto one of the chairs next to the bench they were leaning on.

“You didn’t get me any?” The brunette asked as she watched Holtzmann wink at Erin and mouthing a quick ‘thank you’ at her.

“Uh, I would have, but you complain about it being too sweet.”

“That’s true.” Abby responded, looking over at the cup and noticing the large amount of whipped cream and caramel sauce sitting on top of the coffee. “My teeth would probably fall out.”

“But it’s delicious.” Holtz said then, licking her lips to get rid of some of the cream that’s currently smeared all over her nose and upper lip.

“Maybe for you. Besides, I thought you didn’t like this stuff either, Erin.” The researcher said, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

Erin blushed and awkwardly cleared her throat. “What do you mean?” She said, her voice sounding way higher than normally. “I uh- I love this stuff.”

Abby laughed. “Okay then.”

She didn’t. Not really. At least, it wasn’t the coffee she liked about the place. It was the memory attached to it.

* * *

 

**_4 Months ago._ **

So, here she was, sitting by herself in a coffee shop waiting for an odd looking woman she’d met approximately 24 hours ago.

Great.

“Hi..” Someone suddenly said, causing her to startle.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare ya.”

“Jillian. Hello.”

“Holtzmann’s fine.”

“Oh.”

“Do you want anything?” Holtzmann asked as she nervously shifted her weight.

“I uh- I’m fine. Thanks.” Erin replied, causing the blonde to chuckle as she walked away from her.

“I’ll be right back.”

Holtzmann returned a couple of minutes later holding two cups of coffee and two -verge large – blueberry muffins.

“That’s a lot of whipped cream.” Erin said as she took the coffee and muffin from her.

“Gilbert was it, wasn’t it?”

“Well, I mean.. yeah.. but I’m sure you know that.”

“It’s just that I’ve heard a lot of names over the last couple of years, Satan being the most popular one.”

“I prefer ruler of all that is evil.”

Holtzmann laughed at that. “I’m really only joking, Erin. There are two sides to every story. Anyways, one can never have enough whipped cream.”

Erin didn’t know what to do with what the engineer had just said. She was so used to people always having an opinion on her and judging her for practically everything.

“Uh. Thanks. And also I’m going to disagree with you on that. You’ll get a stomach ache.”

The blonde shrugged. “Worth it.”

Erin reached for her purse and pulled out a couple of dollars. She put them on the table and slid them towards Holtzmann, who just shook her head. “It’s on me.”

“Is this a date?” The redhead asked, only realizing what she’d said after the words had left her mouth. Oh god.

Holtzmann burst out into laughter, causing some of the other customers to turn around to look at them. “Erin, I was just pushing your buttons yesterday. You seemed like the uptight kind of person who gets flustered when she’s being flirted with. Glad to see I was right.”  
The physicist groaned, looking around the place and trying to determine the fastest way to get out here. “Great. I feel great now.”

“Hey, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a date.” She winked then, causing Erin to blush. “But uh.. I really do think we should talk about Abby.”

“Okay.. yeah.” She stammered, not completely understanding why Holtz wanted to talk to her about Abby so badly.

They both took sips of their drinks (well, Holtzmann was mostly just eating her whipped cream) before the blonde spoke up again.

“What are your intentions with Abby?”

“Excuse me?”

“I just made myself sound like her dad, didn’t I?”

“A little, yeah.”

Holtzmann snorted. “She’d hate that. Sorry. Anyways, what I meant was, what are you planning to do?”

Erin shrugged. “Uh. I don’t really have a plan or anything.”

The blonde frowned. “We saw a ghost, you remember that, right?”

“Of course I remember.” Erin answered, “There’s probably still slime on my body somewhere.”

“Kinky.”

“Holtzmann.”

“I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m really not.” The engineer said, followed by her trademark wink.

Erin blushed, quickly picking up her cup to take another sip. She winced when the sweetness hit her tongue.

“Not a sweet tooth?”

The redhead smiled softly. “Not so much, but it’s okay. Really. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Okay so, anyways, you’re not planning to continue working with us or something?”

Erin ducked her head down and started fidgeting with the napkin laying in her lap. “I mean, I don’t really have a choice. I have a job at Columbia, I’m up for tenure.”

Holtzmann rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. That’s very impressive and everything, but Gilbert, what do you think is going to happen once they find out you’ve been roaming around the city chasing ghosts.”

“Why do you think they’ll find out?”

The blonde pulled out her phone and turned the screen around so Erin could see as well.

“What?! How? Did you-? Erin stammered, still staring at the screen as she scrolled down to read some of the comments. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, suddenly not so sure of.. well.. anything.

“Of course I didn’t.” Holtzmann responded, her voice softer than before, “Not my place.”

“So Abby?”

“Yeah.”

Erin felt herself getting upset, which Holtzmann must have noticed. She reached out and patted Erin’s arm briefly. “She didn’t do it to hurt you.”

“Then why? Because this sure feels like revenge to me.”

“She was just enthusiastic. She uploaded that for us. She didn’t even put your name anywhere.”

Erin stayed silent for a few minutes. She knew that Abby was mostly the person to go for direct confrontation. So maybe this did seem sort of out of character. Although, Erin running away from Abby and leaving everything they worked so hard for wasn’t really ‘in character’ either. She just didn’t know anymore.

“Erin.” Holtzmann said, snapping the other woman from her thoughts. “Really. She didn’t mean to hurt you. I just don’t think she realizes that you’re not going to be a part of this.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to.” Erin softly said, taking a bite of her muffin.

The blonde nodded. “Okay, so, listen. I think I speak for both Abby and me when I say that we’d love to have you join us.”

“You would?”

“Erin, you’re brilliant, and despite what happened between you and Abby, and despite you hating whipped cream-“

Erin laughed at that.

“I uh- I think this could really work. Us. The three of us, I mean.”

The physicist started fidgeting again, something that she’d been doing more often than normal lately. “Uh- thanks. I guess.” She said, unsure what to say really.

“What I’m saying is,” Holtzmann responded, ignoring Erin’s insecurity for now, “This is your choice, but just think about it. You’re either all in, or you’re not. It would kill Abby if you’d leave her a second time, especially when we’re so close to figuring all of this out. Don’t give her hope when there is none.”

“I wasn’t trying to do that.” Erin said, feeling slightly attacked.

“I know. Don’t worry. You’re a good person, I can see that.”

“You believe that? Despite what Abby told you?”

Holtzmann winked. “There are two sides to every story, Erin. I can make my own judgments. Just, take some time, then text me your decision when you’re ready.” Holtzmann said with a small smile on her face. She finished her drink and muffin and stood up from her seat, prompting Erin to do the same.

“Thanks, Holtzmann.” She said, amazed to see how much Holtzmann apparently cared about Abby. It was refreshing as well, this stranger being interested in her for who she was. She’d never experienced someone liking her for this part of her personality, the slightly insane ‘I-believe-in-ghosts’ part that many, many people had told her to bury. “I’ll text you later.”

She wasn’t even that disappointed. Not really. Of course, getting fired was a bit of a shock, but it also felt like a sign from the universe. Or something. She could do this. Really, really do this.

She pulled out her phone and texted Holtzmann three days after their little chat.

* * *

“Gilbert!”

“I’m sorry, what?” Erin asked, snapping from her thoughts and noticing how her two friends were staring at her.

“You kinda zoned out.” Abby said, a soft smile on her face.

“Sorry. I was just thinking.” She instinctively nodded towards the coffee while she did so, causing Holtzmann’s smile to broaden.

“Right. I have that too sometimes.”

“I don’t get this.” Abby said, not following what was going on between her two friends right now.

Erin smiled softly, then cleared her throat and gestured towards the device that Holtzmann was still holding. “So uh- what’s this?”

Holtzmann held eye contact with the physicist with another second before finally continuing her earlier explanation. Abby stayed for a bit, but then announced that she had to start working on her own stuff and that she would be back later for the field test.

“It looks good, Holtz. Unstable, but good.”

“Exactly what I was going for.”

Erin chuckled. “Right. So uh- I guess I’ll see you later this afternoon?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

The redhead was about to turn away when Holtzmann cleared her throat, causing her to turn back around.

“Hey uh- Are you sure you’re okay?”

Erin smiled, although it didn’t quite reach her eyes like it normally would. “Yeah. Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Holtzmann squinted her eyes at her for a second, then shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t know. Never mind. I’ll see you later. Thanks again for the coffee.”

Erin nodded and then walked away from the blonde. She walked over towards her own desk downstairs and stared at the equations she’d been working on the day before. Somehow she couldn’t focus on them. Her mind kept drifting and the number seemed to jump around on the paper.

Her phone – which had been laying next to her empty coffee cup – buzzed and lit up. She contemplated picking it up. She sort of already knew what it was going to be, but still, she couldn’t help but be curious. She sighed deeply and then reached for it, unlocking the phone and opening the app.

Her fingers hovered over the screen, unsure what to do. She wanted to text back, she really did. But somehow it was making her heart pound and making her feel anxious. She wasn’t even sure why. Maybe it was because she was afraid she’d tell this stranger about how insecure she’d been feeling lately. And she didn’t really want to talk about it, face it. It was just easier to ignore what was going on, right?

**Author's Note:**

> Did you like it? Hate it? Love it? I'd love to hear from you guys!  
> You can also find me on tumblr: dr-jillianholtzmann


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